avengers

Avengers Reboot! With the release of Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel Comics decides to reboot the Avengers. Again. For like the 19th time. I maybe be exaggerating. The new comics starts off with a flashback to the elder Avengers featuring Odin and characters I don’t care enough to look up in a comic concept I hate with a fiery passion (hey, you know the hero/team/villain you really like, well, let’s strip away everything unique about them ’cause somebody else did it first).

2012’s The Avengers brought together all the elements from the planned Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was a payoff movie, and one that was executed brilliantly by Joss Whedon. It also gave us the first on-screen appearance of Thanos (now played by Josh Brolin) whose foreshadowed war on the universe would be put on hold for several years. Until now. Since The Avengers, too many of the Marvel movies have been forced into world building while telling their story. For the first time in years, there is no horizon which frees sreenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors the Russo Brothers to simply tie the elements together as Whedon did six years ago and tell one hell of a story. And you know what? They do a damn good job.

Apparently the House of Ideas is out of, well, ideas. Attempting to cash-in on the name recognition of one of Marvel’s biggest events, which coincidentally were just adapted for the basis of Marvel’s latest summer blockbuster, Civil War II offers a new story of the Marvel Universe heroes splitting into two “surprisingly” equal sides. While Civil War focused on what it meant to be a hero and offered debate about freedom and privacy versus safety and control, it’s sequel (as sequels are known to do) feels lightweight in comparison.